


So Far, So Close

by Merfilly



Category: Talents Series - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Triple Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-19
Updated: 2010-05-19
Packaged: 2017-10-15 05:37:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/157559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Afra reflects on his lady in her tower</p>
            </blockquote>





	So Far, So Close

Afra feels it in the day-in, day-out operations of Callisto. The air can become charged, full of the press of the Rowan's mindset. Their beautiful lady in the tower, just like in the fairy tales, cannot help but bridle at her confinement. The lower Talents endure it, the ones like Afra in the mid-range cope with it, and they all scramble to leave for Earth when her mood is right.

He can't help but wish it were different. He wants something to change, something to ease her aching loneliness. It cannot be as Reidinger had wished, for though the attraction is there, perhaps even mutually so, the Rowan knows she needs a friend, and Afra can see it plainly that friendship is more the cure than sexual fulfillment.

What bothers Afra, more than even Brian guesses, is that the hope of change is growing more elusive, as time goes by. If there is someone in the universe who can save the Rowan from her captivity, it needs to be soon, before she is just as confined by her mindset as Siglen ever has been.

Afra fights the ennui the best he can. He goes to Earthside only when he knows he is at the end of his rope and the knot has unraveled beneath his hands. This way, he shares her captivity as best he can. Quiet meals shared, origami gifts for her, and the most careful application of unique trinket gifts go a long way to helping her survive the loneliness, but there is never quite enough to fully mollify her.

Afra and Brian both know it will take a miracle, and among the Talents miracles are supposed to be everyday affairs. They just have to protect their people, and the Rowan, from her moods until the miracle strikes.


End file.
